Digg Users 3 Times Less Likely to Click Ads Than Google Users

Anyone who’s been on Digg can tell you that while the traffic can be amazing there isn’t a correlating increase in ad revenue, the bottom line being Digg users don’t click on ads like traditional visitors do and especially not as much as traffic from search engines. Chitika has stepped up and provided some facts to backup this claim.

Chitika grabbed 31 days of logs and compared traffic from Digg and Google and came to the obvious conclusion that Digg users are less likely to click on ads. The actual ratio is a little closer than I thought it would be. I suspected something like 5 to 1 or 10 to 1, but Chitika’s results put Digg users at 3 times less likely to click on ads. As we all know users are becoming more and more banner/ad blind and no one more so than the tech/geek crowd which is the primary audience of Digg.

What does this mean in terms of making money? Don’t rely on the Digg traffic as a direct method for making money. It’s a means to get exposure. If you do get on Digg try to capture the audience as much as possible. Direct them to other content on your site and try to get them to become repeat visitors. You’ll also get some trackbacks and links from being on Digg and we all know how important links are.